Sunday, October 14, 2012

Candice & Bob Like Thai Food

What's in a name? That which we call Bob Likes Thai Food. It's a fun and unique take on a restaurant brand yet, you can't help but wonder the obvious, who's Bob?

As we entered the playfully decorated restaurant adorned with children's artwork and larger than life-sized paintings of a fork and spoon, I looked around hoping to find Bob. Upon asking our waitress, I learned there sadly isn't a Bob. She said the owner, Tai Keattivanichvily, couldn't find the authentic Thai flavours from home when he moved to Vancouver 15 years ago. Leaving his career in animation, he opened his shop in 2011, recruited Thai cooks and they worked hard to replicate his favourite dishes. Also, he simply likes the name, Bob.

Roasted Duck Red Curry

We started with the roasted duck red curry, as recommended by the waitress, and it was the best of the dishes we tried. The meaty duck just melted in your mouth and the sweet hints of fresh pineapple, lychee and cherry tomatoes helped to cut the richness of the coconut-based curry.

Pad Thai

The well-executed Pad Thai had a nice sweetness from tamarind and thankfully not from ketchup, typically used in Western renditions of this dish. The gentle tang from the lime brought out the savoury flavours of the perfectly cooked noodles stir-fried with prawns, tofu, bean sprouts and crushed peanuts.

Thai Ice-Tea

We accompanied our meal with some refreshingly sweet and creamy Thai ice-tea that went down way too fast!

Fried Banana Fingers with Ice-Cream

Despite being full from dinner, I imagined Bob wouldn't end a meal without dessert. So we opted for the deep fried bananas, a la mode. We managed to devour the tempura battered banana fingers, rich vanilla ice-cream and sweet blackberries. I even had to resist licking the plate when it was all done!

What matters is what something is, not what it's called. The Thai food is delicious and there is no mistaking that the dishes are authentic and reasonably priced. Bob Likes Thai Food, to be called by any other name wouldn't smell as sweet.

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About Me

Born in Singapore and raised in Vancouver, I developed Candice's Cusina as my journey to retrace my Filipino roots and experience all ethnic cuisine one delicious bite at a time. My passion is cooking and my goals are to explore and share various ethnic heritages through history, culture and food!
Visit my new website, www.candicescusina.com.